Staying Humble is Good for Growth

Posted on: March 31, 2011

I’ve blogged about taking-up swimming as a new form of exercise. There is a class at 5 a.m. on Wednesdays for an hour with a coach. After more than two months of learning how to breath and actually swim laps, I was pleased to be moved from the slowest swimmers’ lane to the next level up – for about 30 seconds…. What hit me was how fast this faster group was and how slow I really was. My reality changed.

When we experience success for too long, we can get too comfortable and it’s not good. It’s hard to find a faster group whether it’s an industry peer group assembled from around the country or hiring outside resources with different lenses to give you feedback on how you operate or looking outside your industry for best-in-class organizations to compare notes.

Enjoying success is good. You need to celebrate. Be mindful how long you savor it though….